Lions Lod draw with Israel XI despite Solomon heroics

Israel coach Herschel Gutman described it as one of the best games he has ever played in, and a quick glance at the scorecard shows why. 550 runs for the loss of 11 wickets was the day's tally, with two centuries highlighting both team's innings.

Batting first, Gutman scored 117* in the Israel total of 278/5 declared after 42 overs, but that effort was bettered by Eshkol Solomon, who slammed 157 as Lions finished 7 runs short of victory as they finished their allotted 38 overs on 272/6. The draw was enough to move Lions two points above Ra'anana into top spot in the league, with both teams having now played 5 matches.

In other matches over the weekend, former Israel U19 spinner Ronen Waskar took 7/50 but that was not enough to prevent Sri Lanka Jerusalem scoring their sixth straight win of the season, cementing their place at the top of Division 2 with a 45-run win over Lions Be'er Sheva in Be'er Sheva. Eilat moved up to second with a comprehensive 8-wicket win over Lod in Eilat, with Elijah Divekar scoring 108 as Eilat chased down 152. Petah Tikva would have been proud of their bowling display, dismissing Sri Lanka Tel Aviv for 201 at Hadar Yosef, but then collapsed with the bat to be 55 all out. Dimona A scored a good 6-wicket win on Friday over Ra'anana 2 at Hadar Yosef.